Israeli border policemen stand guard near a temporary road block during a protest against the continued closure by Israel of Shuhada street in the West Bank city of Hebron September 14, 2011. (Reuters/Ammar Awad)

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained five Palestinians at a women-only protest in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, witnesses and security officials said.

The women, wearing traditional Palestinian dress, gathered near Shuhada street in the city center calling for Israel to end its closure of the main thoroughfare.

A group of Israeli settlers attacked the women, and Israeli forces detained four protesters, as well as Palestine TV correspondent Diya Al-Junaidi, a Ma'an reporter said.

Israeli soldiers fired sound bombs and tear gas at the group of demonstrators, while shoving the group in order to disperse them, he added.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said five women were detained and transferred to custody, but she had no record of forces using dispersal weapons.

Shuhada Street, a main road in Hebron's once-bustling center, has been closed to Palestinians since an Israeli settler shot dead 29 Palestinians worshiping in Ibrahimi mosque in 1994.

Hebron was split into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control under a 1997 agreement.

The Israeli military-controlled H2 zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque -- also split into a synagogue referred to as the Tomb of the Patriarchs -- and the once thriving Shuhada street, now just shuttered shops fronts and closed homes.

1 ) Richard SM / UK

13/06/2012 19:40

Israeli settlers attack women protesters - so Israeli forces detain four of the women protesters and a TV correspondent!

2 ) Carlos / Palestine

13/06/2012 22:33

peace,
Im shocked this article was not penned by REUTERS....oh..wait..that's just Libya,Syria,Lebanon,Somalia,Egypt...etc..i guess there arent any ARAB sources to comment on those countries.

3 ) @ Carlos / WB

13/06/2012 23:28

So you want Ma'an to send correspondents to Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia and Egypt? It is a 5-year-old independent Palestinian news agency and doesn't have Qatari princes funding it. get real.

4 ) justice / Canada

14/06/2012 03:59

Attacking women who want to exercise their rights in their own land. The more one reads about the Zionist brutal behaviour, the more disgusted one gets.

5 ) Uzi Kaduri / Israel

14/06/2012 05:21

Ibrahimi Mosque is in Saudi Arabia. Shuhada Street is there too. No such places in Hebron & anywhere in the Land of Israel. Protesters should be sent there too.

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